Introduction

The first good description of infective endocarditis (IE) was provided by William Osler in his Gulstonian Lectures on malignant endocarditis 1885 [1]. IE at that time was an almost uniformly deadly disease; acute endocarditis caused by Staphylococcus aureus killed the patient within 2 months while subacute or chronic endocarditis, mostly caused by viridans group streptococci, bacteria that are commensal oral flora, could allow the patient to live up to a year. Osler realized that IE manifestations were not only cardiac but systemic with primary and secondary infectious manifestations and embolic events affecting any organ and part of the body. Osler’s description and understanding of the etiology, pathology, complications, and prognosis were detailed and accurate, and his papers are still very much worth reading.